Oct 24th Strumpshaw Fen

Blue Tit

It was a pretty strange start to the day this morning. With the trains not running today for some reason, I had to catch a bus to Brundal instead. Despite this change of transport, I still arrived at Strumpshaw just as dawn completed its thing. The sun was still rising low and brightly over the horizon. Flock after flock of redwing with a few fieldfare mingling in their numbers could be seen flying overhead throughout the reserve during these early couple of hours before my shift with their distinctive yet subtle calls alerting me to them each time they passed by.

Goldfinch

Mute Swan

A family of preening mute swans and two grazing Chinese water deer were the only highlights from Fen Hide. A female hen harrier was apparently about as reported to me by a pair of visitors. So I decided to move on in the hope of seeing it. However, there was no sign of it. I had a quick walk down to the sluices to check out the conditions of the river trail path. There was a fair amount of bird activity here. Not only were there more redwings, but there was also a large flock of long-tailed tits and a few bullfinches, not to mention a Cetti's warbler that shouted its loud song right into my ear!

Chinese Water Deer

Pheasants

Long-tailed Tit

Marsh Tit

Carrion Crow

Teal

Reception Hide was an extremely busy place to be this morning. With it being half term and Halloween next week, so many families were arriving to do the special Halloween themed trail set up in the woods to get their kids interacting with nature while having fun in the process. Many children were wearing costumes. From witches to vampires. There was even one boy dressed as Harry Potter, wand and all. Despite all the noisy children and the hide's door constantly slamming, there were some birds to see outside, not as many as usual, but still enough to interest the children and anyone else to that matter. As well as the usual suspects of teal, gadwall, shovelers, etc, I also found a little grebe, a fleeting glimpse of a bearded tit and some marsh harriers and buzzards.

Coot

Little Grebe

Cormorant

Gadwall

Shoveler

Marsh Harrier